


in your song most of all she rejoiced

by y02mustang



Series: The Universe of Scout [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Lena Luthor-centric, SuperCorp, a day in the life, dog trainer au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-01-30 02:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12644601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/y02mustang/pseuds/y02mustang
Summary: A day in the life of Lena and her puppy.Or, Lena realizes the challenges and benefits of sharing her life with a dog.





	in your song most of all she rejoiced

**Author's Note:**

> As of this posting, _catch me i'm falling (never let me go)_ has over 10k views!!! Holy moo.

The alarm on her phone is silenced the moment it begins to chime, but it’s too late. 

Scout knows the alarm means it’s time to get up.

Means time for a walk. 

Means breakfast. 

His tail thumps hard on the bed, smacking Lena in the shins, and she groans. 

Scout rolls onto his belly and crawls up the blanket so he can lick her face. 

Lena laughs and scratches behind his ears. “Good morning to you, too,” she smiles, then flinches when she feels a dog tongue against her teeth. “Gross.”

Scout flops his head against her stomach and closes his eyes. 

“You always know when to turn up the cute, don’t you?”

She pets him for a few more moments, tracing the brown spots she can reach, along his face and the sock on the paw he’s thrown over her. She strokes the bridge of his nose, between his eyes.

Five minutes later she’s surprised to realize they’d both fallen back asleep. 

Lena smiles down at the puppy curled into her. 

He’s only been in her life for just over a month and sharing her apartment for almost two weeks, but she can’t imagine not having him. 

Had she been considering _not_ adopting him? Clearly a moment of insanity. 

It means earlier mornings so she can get a walk in before she has to get ready for work, and he likes to clear everything off the coffee table (it’s the perfect height for a tail wag to just clean it right off) which means investing in a spot cleaner to avoid stains in the carpet, and there was that time he chewed the leg of the dresser.

But it also means she gets breakfast while he eats, and a meal before work was a rare occurrence before Scout came along. It means she uses the coaster set she bought in Thailand and puts her drinks on the higher side tables, and leaving the coffee table clear allows Scout to rest his chin on the surface and gaze at her sometimes.

She can’t lie. That melts her heart every time. 

The dresser leg was a little scarred, but really, it was hardly noticeable. It added character. 

Plus, there was perhaps the biggest change he’d brought to her life.

Kara Danvers. 

The sunny, optimistic blonde dog trainer who ran the Super Shelter.

She’d been behind the desk when Lena walked in with a mud-soaked Scout, before he’d had a name. She smiled and Lena thought she was beautiful and then she laughed and Lena forgot how to breathe. 

Kara was intelligent and funny and patient, often charming, and the most kind-hearted person to ever exist, Lena was pretty certain about that one.

She couldn’t imagine her life without Kara, either. 

Scout whines a little and nudges her hand with his nose. 

“Okay, I hear you, Scout. Let’s get up and get you outside, okay?” She opens the balcony door first to give him a chance to go potty in case it’s too urgent to wait for a ride down the elevator and walking across the lobby. He lifts his leg over the artificial turf and she praises him.

He comes back inside and she takes a toy from the box in the living room. This one is the green dinosaur with squeakers in the body and tail. Scout pounces on it excitedly, grabbing it by the head and throwing it across the room, chasing after it. Lena picks up the rope toy and the stuffed panda, putting them into the box, where they’ll stay for a few days until they’re brought back out into the rotation. 

While Scout entertains himself with throwing and chasing and chewing and squeaking the toy, Lena changes from her silk pajamas into her clothes for the day. It’s late October, nearing Halloween, and the fog is rolling in before dawn, calling for layers in order to remain comfortable through the temperature fluctuations, so she adds a heavier blazer with her long-sleeve dress shirt, and slacks instead of a skirt. 

She slips on socks and tennis shoes for the walk with Scout. Once they’re back, they’ll each have breakfast and then she’ll pull on pantyhose and her high-heels and they’ll head to work.

It’s a routine Lena finds comfort in. 

They make a circuit around the block twice in the mornings, practicing loose-leash walking and working on Scout’s ability to pass by humans and other dogs without insisting on greeting each and every one of them - he’s doing better, choosing to look at Lena, more often than not, rather than pull toward the potential new friend, which earns him a treat for the decision - and learning to sit whenever Lena comes to a stop. 

“Good boy,” she says, delivering a treat and a scratch behind his ear when he sits without being asked, as Lena stands still for a moment. “Let’s go!” is the cue when she starts walking again, and the pup eagerly walks along beside her, glancing up at her every few steps.

When they’re back in the apartment, she removes the leash but leaves the harness on and pulls a Kong from the refrigerator. This one is a mixture of the canned dog food and some plain yogurt, along with a little canned pumpkin ( _a taste of Autumn_ , was Kara’s phrase, and she seemed so excited by the idea of seasonal foods for the dogs that Lena couldn’t resist). 

“Kennel,” she requests, and the pup scrambles inside, his tail knocking against the metal. 

“Wait.” Lena puts the Kong on his bed and closes the gate to the kennel. 

“Okay!” Scout dives for the Kong, licking at it for a moment before lying down completely, bracing the toy with both paws and working to remove the food. 

Lena puts the kettle on, deciding to boil some water for oatmeal, and then changes out of her walking shoes. She stays barefoot for as long as she can, padding around the apartment, making sure she has everything in her purse that she’ll need for the day, double-checking the charge on her tablet. 

“Is that good? You look like you’re enjoying it.” She talks softly to Scout as she pours the water over the bowl of dried oats. “Getting cold enough for some oatmeal in the mornings, I think. We’ll have to talk to Kara and see if you’d like some warm breakfast yourself, won’t we? Though I’m not certain I love you enough to handle the smell of hot dog food permeating the apartment.”

She smirks and swallows her bite of breakfast. “That’s a lie. I absolutely love you enough.”

Scout licks the last bits of pumpkin from the inside of the Kong and rests his chin on it. 

“Give me a few minutes to finish my food here and we’ll get going, okay? I have a meeting in one of the conference rooms this afternoon, we’ll have about a dozen people, so I think you’ll hang out in my office for a few hours today. Does that sound good?”

The puppy blinks at her, not understanding a word but interpreting the tone and calm atmosphere easily, gazing at the woman with adoration. 

*****

David greets them as they approach the car, chuckling and leaning down to pat Scout’s chest when the dog sits at his feet and looks up at him expectantly. “Good morning, Mr. Scout,” he says, accepting the tongue against his chin with a smile. 

Lena climbs into the car and then calls for Scout, saying “Up, up” and he hops into the car. 

He’s growing quickly but still can’t quite make the jump from the ground to the backseat itself, so he jumps onto the rear floorboard and then onto the seat beside Lena. He lays down when David shifts the car into gear and happily takes the occasional treat Lena hands over for his quiet and calm behavior in the car. 

They arrive at L-Corp and David opens the rear door and calls Scout to exit the car, hanging onto his leash. David takes a few steps away so Lena can exit without getting tangled in either puppy or leash. She knows Scout would have laid down if asked, but Lena likes to give Scout a chance to walk with David, even if it’s only briefly, so he learns that polite leash manners apply no matter who’s holding the other end. 

He trots along beside David without issue, ear flicking back as he listens to Lena shuffle her things and climb out of the backseat.

Lena settles her purse on her opposite shoulder and reaches for the leash. “Thank you, David.”

He smiles. “Anytime, Ms. Luthor. Have a good day there, Mr. Scout.” He returns to the car and closes the door, then slides in behind the wheel and pulls the vehicle away from the curb.

“With me”, she cues, asking him to stick closer to her rather than roam and sniff everything. It lessens the chances he’ll trip anyone exiting the building or wrap the leash (and, by extension, Lena) around a lamppost. It isn’t too busy yet this morning but Scout keeps the leash slack, staying at Lena’s side.

They enter the lobby and the receptionists and all four security guards stand up from their desks and smile at the pair.

Lena is a little surprised when she realizes that their smiles are actually at the _two_ of them, not just Scout. The sight of the puppy starts their reaction, initiating the wide grins, but the warmth in their eyes doesn’t fade when they shift to meet her gaze and wish her good morning. 

_Yet another gift he’s given me. Approachability._ She takes a moment to let that sink in. _No one thinks ‘look at the terrible Luthor’ when there’s a cute puppy beside the Luthor._

The receptionists know it’s their turn to pet him so they come around, one at a time, offering a treat and then accepting the hard lean as Scout’s request for pettings. While Sarah is scratching under his chin, Nancy holds a treat in her hand and laughs when Scout falls onto his side, wanting belly rubs.

“Anything for me this morning?” Lena asks, turning to the security guards. She knows she’d have received a text or a phone call if there was anything urgent that required her attention but she still wants to maintain awareness of any smaller issues that might arise. 

“No, ma’am. Everything was quiet. Oh, a reminder for you that we’ve got the monthly fire alarm testing going on tomorrow morning at nine.”

Lena nods. She’s already scheduled for her and Scout to be out of the office at that time. “Thank you.” She looks at the end of the leash, where Scout is happily wriggling as both Nancy and Sarah give him pettings, tongue lolling out as he seems to smile. She gives it a few more moments, and then the receptionists realize the idle chatter between the security guards and Ms. Luthor has ended and they blink up at her, blushing a little at being caught fawning over the puppy, and they stand. 

“Have a good day, Ms. Luthor,” Sarah says, throwing her long brown hair back over her shoulders.

Lena smiles at her, pleased when she gets one in return. “Thank you both for making his morning. Let’s go,” she tells the pup and he shakes once and then trots along as they make their way to the elevators.

Scout sits at her side when they wait for the elevator and just before the ding sounds, Lena gives him a treat for his patience. The doors slide open and the puppy steps over the threshold without an issue. Three other people get into the elevator with them, and Scout sniffs at one woman’s bag but leaves it when Lena asks him to, earning him quiet praise. The kind words she speaks to the puppy draw a smile and a small nod from the woman Scout had been investigating and Lena mirrors it. 

She isn’t sure if the nod means “great job” or maybe “cute puppy”. 

Either way, she’ll take it. 

Lena has noticed that Scout seems to feel more comfortable standing when the elevator is in motion. He’ll respond to the cue to sit but almost immediately pops back up, so she just leaves him be, since he’s standing politely and not bothering any of the other passengers. 

When the doors open at the seventeenth floor, he gazes up at her, waiting for her cue before exiting. She hands over two bits of freeze-dried liver as a big reward for the choice and then leads him out of the elevator.

They round the corner into the foyer and Jess stands to greet them. “Good morning, Ms. Luthor. No messages overnight, though Mr. Dillard called at six this morning and wanted to triple-check that his compensation would be in the mail today.”

Lena rolls her eyes. 

Jess grins. “I told him it was already sent and should arrive at his building by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“Good, thank you.”

“Your first meeting is at nine-thirty,” Jess reminds her, following the woman and puppy into the office, used to the routine. 

Lena removes the leash and rests it on the shelf with the dog toys, pulling out the red fire hydrant and placing it in Scout’s kennel. 

As Scout sniffs to make sure nothing is out of place in the office since the night before, Jess goes through the day’s schedule, highlighting a few emails due out before noon. “And finally, you’ll see the calendar invite for the conference at two.”

“Right.” Lena makes sure the reminder alert is set. “We’ve got 173B booked for that, still?”

“Yes… and I made sure the issue from last week has been resolved and won’t happen again.”

Lena looks up from her tablet and raises an eyebrow. “You fixed the code for the application?”

“No, it, well, it wasn’t a software problem.” Jess shifts her weight. “I told Ted that if he ever tried to overbook one of my rooms and blame it on a computer error again, I’d make sure all of his conferences would be held in the basement.”

Lena snorts. “Well done.” _Extra Christmas bonus for you, Jess._ “I’d like to review our templates for proposals and customer requests some time today, can you compile those for me, please?”

“Yes, Ms. Luthor.”

“Anything else?”

“Not so far.”

“I’m going to leave him in here during the meeting at two,” Lena explains, tilting her head at the puppy who’d discovered the fire hydrant toy but had to sit to scratch at itch before he could play with it, “can you keep an eye on him, please?”

“Of course. I can sit in here and do my work.”

Lena shakes her head. “I’d like to try to give him some alone time and see how he does. Will you just listen for him, in case he starts to whine or bark? He’s going to have a b-o-n-e to chew on so I think he’ll be fine, but…”

Jess locks away the memory of Lena Luthor, CEO of L-Corp, spelling out the word ‘bone’ so her puppy wouldn’t react, as something for when she’s feeling sad and needs to be cheered up. “Not a problem.” Lena thanks her and Jess leaves to return to her desk, giving Scout two blueberries before closing the door behind her.

*****

Lena talks quietly to Scout throughout the day as she works.

“I don’t think he realizes email comes with a spell check capability.”

“Does she understand the potential impact of this design? I’ll flag this for a follow-up this evening when I can really give her a detailed response.”

“I swear I addressed this last month.” A few moments later: “Yeah, that’s what I thought. You don’t get brownie points for continuing to push an idea that’s been rejected, especially when you aren’t making any changes. Martin gets to handle this, now.”

She rolls her eyes at more than a few emails. “Honestly, do you think L-Corp wants to get in on the ground floor of an anti-alien weapons contract?”

Scout snorts as a bit of red fuzz from his toy goes up his nose.

Lena takes it as an agreement. “See? Even _you_ know we don’t do anti-alien tech here, and you’re a dog.”

She takes Scout for a quick walk herself around ten-thirty, taking the chance to stretch her legs and enjoy the sunshine before the next storm rolls in over the weekend. 

She texts Kara idly once she’s back at her desk, planning a lunch date for the next day, smiling at the emojis and animal pictures her girlfriend sends at random intervals, welcome interruptions from the mountain of paperwork. 

_Kara: Have you had lunch today yet?_

_Lena: The conference will be catered._  
_Lena: It’s a working lunch._

 _Kara: You never eat at those things._  
_Kara: You don’t like eating during meetings._  
_Kara: Please get something before it starts._

Lena allows herself to acknowledge the warmth that blooms in her chest at the simple string of texts. 

Lena’s had exactly zero catered meetings since she and Kara started dating. 

But she did mention her dislike for the events… once. Mostly in passing. Just a tidbit of information, in the “get to know you” stages of their first dinner date.

 _Lena: Okay. I will._  
_Lena: *red heart emoji*_

_Kara: *a rainbow of heart emojis*_

_Lena: Show off._

Jess knocks softly on the door and then comes inside. “It’s one-thirty.” She picks up Scout’s leash, trying to be quiet about it, but the pup catches the sound of the clip sliding across the counter and he bounds over to Jess, tail wagging furiously, jumping a little in his excitement. Jess looks toward Lena and they carry on a steady conversation until he calms. 

“If you can, take him for an extra trip around the block today,” Lena says. “We’ve been working on ‘sit when I stop’, so if you stop every once in awhile, he should sit at your side. Or if he looks back at you when you’re walking him, praise him for that, since he’s checking in with you, that shows he’s giving you focus.”

Jess nods. “I can do that. And I’ll take this bag with me?” She points to the small treat bag on the shelf. 

“Yes, I put some of the small training treats in there. You can go through all of it, if you have to.”

“Okay.” Jess glances down at Scout, who has decided maybe he isn’t getting to go for a walk right this second, as the humans are chatting and not paying him any attention, and he’s sitting at Jess’ feet. She leans down and attaches the leash to his harness. He stands, excited again, but only prances a little, so Jess fastens the treat bag around her waist and they head out the door. 

While they’re out, Lena removes a plastic bag from her purse, withdrawing a store-bought marrow bone mixed with peanut butter and bacon. Scout had expressed an interest in the item the last time they were at Healthy Pet, Happy Pet, spending an inordinate amount of time smelling it and trying to pull one of the bones out of the wire storage rack, but it was just out of his reach. Lena decided he picked it out, so she purchased it… and two more.

She doesn’t have time for a trip down to the cafeteria before her meeting, but she’d promised Kara she would eat, so she finds two fig bars in the drawer of her desk and decides that will have to do. As she’s finishing the second one, she scribbles a quick note to herself to get some proper meal bars in her desk.

She hears Jess and Scout return, Jess telling him what a good boy he’d been and how proud Lena would be, Scout’s ID tags jingling as he walks. 

Lena tamps down on the goofy grins she’s sure she’s wearing just before the door swings open. 

“He did great,” Jess reports, letting Scout off the leash. “He stopped every time I did, and when we almost got a little tangled because he went on the opposite side of a garbage bin, I just called him and he came back around instead of trying to pull through.”

“Good boy.” Lena smiles but doesn’t reach down to pet him, as much as she wants to, knowing that will only add to his excitement. An overstimulated puppy is not what she wants just before she has to leave the room for a few hours. 

Lena gives him a few minutes to settle down after the walk, watching him throw the fire hydrant toy once before he catches the smell of the marrow bone and the toy is forgotten. He sniffs the bone all over, then climbs into the kennel and shoves his nose into the center, where the filling is, tail thumping against his dog bed. 

Lena closes the gate to the kennel, grabs her tablet, and walks out of the office. 

*****

The meeting runs for just over two hours, longer than Lena expected, and she gathers her papers the moment it’s over, hurrying back to her office instead of mingling with the department heads. 

Jess’ smile when she enters the foyer puts her at ease and she stops to talk with the woman instead of barging into her office immediately. 

“How did it go?”

Jess turns the monitor on her desk so Lena can view it. “I pulled up the security feed so I could make sure he was okay, but he didn’t make a peep the whole time. He chewed on the bone and tried to get the filling out of it for over a half hour, then he took a nap for about twenty minutes, then he woke up and went back to the bone… and then he fell asleep again.” She chuckles. “He’s been passed out for at least the last hour.”

In the black and white security footage, Lena confirms that Scout is still peacefully in his kennel - she thinks he’s laying on his back but can’t be sure. She makes a mental note to add another camera with a better view of the kennel.

“Thank you, Jess.”

She opens the door slowly and slips into the office. 

Scout is completely sprawled on his back, all four paws in the air, breathing deeply. She thinks his ear twitches when she walks in but he doesn’t wake, so she lets him be. 

Lena moves carefully as she crosses to her desk and lowers herself into the chair, determined not to disturb the puppy. 

Her typing seems overly loud and she tries to be conscious of her noise level.

Within a few minutes, she realizes why everything sounds strange - her office seems too quiet without Scout chewing on a toy or the soft jangle of the tags on his collar. 

She even misses talking to him. 

Fifteen minutes later, she hears him groan and stretch and roll over on his belly, tail thwacking against the metal bars when she stands. She opens the kennel and smiles warmly as he stretches again, leaning against her leg, pushing his head into her hand happily when she scratches the side of his neck. 

“You didn’t even notice I was gone, did you?” 

Scout licks her arm. 

“Down,” she asks, and he settles on the floor. She reaches in and removes the bone from his kennel and tosses a treat behind him. “Okay! Good boy.” She replaces the bone in the plastic bag and puts it back in her purse so she can take it home, then returns to her chair, calling the pup to her for a few minutes of handling. 

Lena strokes his face gently and then gives him a verbal prompt of, “Mouth,” before she puts her hands on his snout and lifts his lips to check his teeth, doing one side and then the other, giving him a few treats when he sits patiently and allows the fuss. She does the same for his eyes and ears, then practices “paw” and examining his feet, finishing by playing a few minutes of fetch with the fire hydrant toy as a reward. 

“All done,” she tells him and throws the toy once more. He brings it back and drops it at her feet, but when she doesn’t pick it up again, he flops down and chews it where it lies. “Good boy, Scout. Ready to help me with some more emails?”

He listens as she goes over the wording for a few replies, making sure they strike the proper tone. 

By the fourth email, she feels a weight on her foot and glances down. 

It’s a familiar sight, the dark head resting heavily against her right foot, but it makes her mouth turn up every time. 

*****

After Scout wakes from his nap, Lena takes him on a quick walk, just to relieve himself, then it’s back up to the office so Lena can finish the last bit of paperwork for the day. 

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess says, as six o’clock rolls around, “I wanted to remind you about your schedule for tomorrow. Scout has a vet appointment at nine and then I see you have lunch with Kara. Should I expect you around one?”

Lena waves her hand. “No, I’m just going to take the entire day.”

Jess takes it in stride. “I thought you might,” she hides a smile, “so I’ve already shifted the afternoon meetings for Monday and Tuesday.” 

Going out for lunch is rare enough, but to take a whole day off work, especially a Friday? Not once in the six months Jess has been working for Lena has that ever happened. Her gaze travels to the Rottweiler puppy curled up in his open kennel. _You and Kara Danvers are true miracle workers,_ she sighs happily. _I’m so glad she found you both._

“Is there anything I can get for you tonight?”

“We’ll be leaving shortly, as well. Go on home, Jess.”

“Good night, Ms. Luthor. Good night, Scout.” The pup watches her with soft eyes. 

Lena shuts down her tablet and packs up for the night not long after Jess leaves, clipping the leash to Scout’s harness when she’s sure she has everything that she’ll need for the weekend. 

Their morning routine plays out in reverse, as David takes them home and Lena changes into her tennis shoes again so she can take Scout on a longer walk, and they head for their usual nighttime destination. Scout lifts his leg against the first tree they near and then sniffs animatedly at a spot in the grass; whatever it is that interests him, Lena can’t see it, but he isn’t trying to eat anything, so she leaves him be. Apparently it smells perfect for rolling around in and Scout flops down to rub his back against the lawn, teeth snapping and tail wagging as he rolls backs and forth, paws flailing slightly. 

Lena chuckles and lets him have his fun. 

He stops wriggling and sighs, then flips back to his feet and shakes off a few times. 

Lena takes that to mean he’s had enough rolling about and says, “Let’s go home.”

They walk back and Lena’s feeling the need to slip off her shoes and maybe stretch out on the couch for a while, so she gives him the occasional treat for checking in but only stops once to practice sitting, which he does. She tells him what a good dog he is and he wags his tail, prancing proudly beside her. 

The shoes come off as soon as they’re inside the apartment. She removes Scout’s leash and hangs it on the hook by the door, tossing the treat bag on the counter, well out of the puppy’s reach. Lena brings out a frozen Kong to last a little longer, that way she can reheat her pasta leftovers from the takeout with Kara the night before, and take her time and drink a little wine, without tempting him. 

Scout scrambles into his kennel, eager for his dinner, digging in when Lena gives the okay.

Lena changes into sweats while the pasta warms in the microwave, taking her hair down with a relieved sigh. She pours a glass of wine and sits at the table to eat, keeping an eye on her puppy, though he’s happily occupied with his own meal. 

She finishes before he does so she stretches on the couch, flexing her ankle until it pops once, easing the tension there, and turns on the news. The headline is a report of Kara saving the day… again.

“She stopped two men who were trying to rob an armored vehicle,” Lena tells Scout, swiping open the messaging app on her phone, “and it ended with no one being hurt. She’s something else, isn’t she?”

_Lena: Have a good night, darling._

Kara texts back almost immediately.

 _Kara: You, too!_  
_Kara: Can’t wait to see you tomorrow for lunch._  
_Kara: *heart-eyes emoji*_

Lena indulges herself in what she suspects is a lovestruck schoolgirl moment and lets her finger trail over the symbol on her screen.

There’s a decided lack of teeth-against-rubber squeak in the apartment and she peers over at Scout to see that he’s finished with his dinner. He’s resting his head against the raised cushion on the sides of the dog bed. 

“Was it a good mix tonight? Did you like the bits of cheese in there?” she asks, opening the kennel door and patting his side gently when he walks out. She picks up the empty Kong and takes it to the sink, washing it with a diluted bleach solution, then rinses it well and leans it in the dish rack to dry. 

She turns to head back into the living room and finds Scout curled up on the dog bed in the dining room, where he can see her as she stands at the sink. She grabs a treat from the jar on the counter and tosses it on the bed for his choice to hang out there, reinforcing his decision to seek out boundaries, such as his beds and blankets, even his towel when they’re out in public. 

Lena returns to the couch and grabs the book from the side table. She turns the volume down on the TV and reads leisurely, glancing over the arm of the sofa occasionally to check on Scout, but he’s napping comfortably on the dog bed. 

She’s twenty-three pages into the historical fiction when a sound comes from somewhere just outside the apartment. 

It’s _loud_ , or so it seems, and her heart rate spikes. 

She glances at the front door, holding her breath, trying to focus, to concentrate, in case the handle begins to move, in case… her hand is unsteady as she reaches out to grab her phone. 

Then she notices Scout. 

The pup is still breathing evenly, paw twitching slightly as he dreams. His brow wrinkles and he snorts, perhaps chasing something or maybe chewing on a toy, but still content to sleep. 

Lena exhales slowly. She realizes that whatever the noise was, it wasn’t close enough or loud enough to concern the dog, who has much better hearing than she does. 

She watches him for a minute more, flexing her fingers to rid them of the tremble. 

Scout blinks awake for a moment, yawns, then licks his chops and quickly falls asleep once more. 

Lena takes a deep breath and goes back to her book, though she places her phone next to her hip. 

Scout doesn’t wake in time for one more walk before bed, so she takes him on the balcony instead, where he sniffs at the turf but doesn’t go right away, and she gives him a few more minutes as she changes clothes. Once in her pajamas, she invites him inside and he follows her to the bedroom. He jumps up when she asks, after she’s settled under the covers, and he circles a few times before collapsing in a heap, his head pressed against her knees. 

Lena falls asleep quickly. 

*****

The next morning, they get ready as per their usual routine, though Scout only gets a small portion of breakfast, and David drives them downtown. Alex’s clinic, For Fur and Feather, is a large stand-alone building, though the parking lot is a little cramped, and Lena asks David to drop them off and take the car across the street. 

They enter at the designated dog entrance and Lena checks in at the front desk, taking a clipboard of paperwork, claiming a seat where they’re far enough away from the door that she can keep an eye on any other clients coming in and she won’t put Scout directly in their path. 

Scout quickly grows bored and begins to paw and nudge Lena’s leg. She asks him to lay down and then shifts in her seat so she can prop the clipboard against her knee and fill it out one-handed, absently scratching Scout’s belly with the other.

She fills out the form with all the information she has available, but she’s confident that Alex will have his records from the shelter, or at least can request them easily.

“Stay,” she cues, putting her palm out toward Scout, as she walks the few steps back to the desk to drop off the completed paperwork. She keeps one eye on Scout the entire time, extremely aware of the German Shepherd and his owner on the other side of the small waiting room, but Scout’s only indication he’s anxious is that he pushes himself up into a sitting position, but he stays in the same spot otherwise, so Lena counts it as a win. She smiles as she walks back to him and scratches his chest, praising the pup. 

They sit and wait for a few more minutes. Lena looks around the room and sees several dog training books she recognizes from Kara’s bookshelves and a few pamphlets that come from the Super Shelter. There are brochures on various canine illnesses or common medications and she assumes all the feline information packets are stocked in the other entrance. 

“Ms. Luthor,” the technician says from behind the desk, “if you’d like to take Scout into room two, Dr. Danvers will be with you shortly.”

Lena gathers the leash and puts a few treats in her fist, doling them out on a steady basis as they walk around the desk, nearing the shepherd, but Scout is distracted enough by the bits of hot dog that he doesn’t turn his head when the other dog whines and tries to nose forward to sniff him. 

“Good boy,” Lena grins, spreading a handful of kibble on the floor of the exam room and asking him to “Find it!” as she closes the door behind them. His tail wags as he makes sure he gobbles up every piece and when he’s done, Scout begins to check out the rest of the room, investigating what he can reach of the exam table, the small sink, the trash can, and the cabinets against the far wall. Lena lets him go where he likes, keeping the leash slack as he roams the room. He hears people and likely other dogs, Lena guesses, through the door leading to the interior of the building, probably a hallway connecting the rooms, and his ears perk up. 

Scout tilts his head, which Lena finds adorable, trying to get a better idea of where the sounds are coming from and what exactly they are.

When he’s done sniffing in all the corners, Lena walks him over to the bench against the wall and takes a seat. He sits on the floor beside her, yawning a few times, ears continuing to shift forward and then back. Lena runs a hand down his back, scratching his shoulder gently, tugging him against her leg, smiling when he digs his chin against her thigh. “It’s okay, buddy,” she soothes, beginning to recognize his signs of stress. “You remember Alex, right? Sure you do. She’s going to take good care of you. And I’m right here, okay?”

The door at the other end of the room opens and Alex steps inside. Lena has seen her in scrubs before but today she’s in more plain clothes, khakis and a polo shirt, with a white coat over it all. A stethoscope hangs around her neck but apparently it’s more for convenience as she walks because she takes it off the moment she comes into the room and sets it on the counter. 

“Good morning,” she smiles broadly, opening the manila folder and scanning the paperwork for her patient. “Thanks for coming down here today, I’m sorry I couldn’t have this appointment at the shelter for you.”

“It’s fine,” Lena assures her. She pats Scout’s side gently. “We’re trying to experience new places, anyway.”

Alex grins. “That’s what I like to hear. Let’s get a weight on him first. Can you have him step up here?” She gestures to a metal scale in the corner of the room, which Scout had sniffed earlier but then ignored. 

Lena stands and encourages Scout to walk with her. Pointing with her finger, sweeping low and almost touching the scale herself, she says, “Scout, place!” and he steps onto the scale as though it’s just another boundary. “Sit,” is next, and he hesitates at this one, Lena wonders if the metal is cold, but does as she asks. When the numbers on the digital readout are steady for a few seconds, Alex marks it down and nods to Lena that she has what she needs. “Okay!” she releases him, walking backwards a few steps and he follows easily, tail wagging, accepting the hot dog treats. 

“Thirty-eight pounds even.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s much better than he was at the shelter,” Alex says, “but it’s still a little low for his age. He should really about forty-five. How’s he been eating? Any problems?”

“No, his appetite is always good. He likes the canned food and I’ve been mixing it with pumpkin and sometimes yogurt or cheese.” Lena strokes his back. “I’ve been careful to offset the treats he gets every day. Jess, my secretary, is very fond of him.”

Alex laughs. “I’m glad he’s making friends. I know Kara probably warned you about overfeeding him, especially during training, but I think we can ease up on that a little. Let’s try about twenty-five percent more canned food in his daily intake, okay? You can drop by anytime to check his weight, either here or at the shelter. We’ll see how he looks in about a month or two.

“He’s not underfed or malnourished,” Alex says quickly, seeing the concern in Lena’s eyes, “but he does have some catching up to do. Just like with humans, though, the scale is an iffy measurement. Here, this is a good idea of how his body should look from above and from the side, when he’s at his proper weight.” Alex takes a sheet of paper from a stack on the counter, clearly a handout she offers often. 

Lena glances at the information, looking at the “athletic” and “companion” images, highlighting that the ribs shouldn’t be visible but still felt when pressed with a hand, and other indicators for a healthy weight. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“I know you will. He’ll be fine.” Alex looks back to the paperwork in the file. “He had his baseline blood work done at the shelter so we don’t need to take any samples today, unless you have any concerns.” When Lena shakes her head, Alex adds, “So we just need to give him his last booster shot, I’ll send you home with more heartworm prevention, and he’ll be good until his annual check-up next year. Does he like peanut butter?”

Lena laughs and Alex grins. She removes a green silicone bone from one of the overhead cabinets and Lena notices the suction cups on one side. Alex has a can of spray-peanut-butter, of sorts, making it easier to fill in the swirls of the bone, and when she’s added what she estimates is enough to keep Scout occupied for a few minutes, she sticks the suction cups to the side of the exam table, just at the height for Scout to be able to stand and enjoy it.

He makes a beeline for the bone when he smells the peanut butter. He licks it once, then grabs it in his mouth and pulls, but the suction holds firm, and after a few more experimental tugs, he goes back to try to work the filling out from the sides.

Alex withdraws a bit of the vaccine into the syringe and kneels next to Scout, motioning for Lena to do the same, if she wants, and Lena gladly follows suit. 

“We’re just going to talk for a minute, so he doesn’t associate the bone with the shot,” Alex explains, putting a hand on Scout’s back. “How are things going with having him at home and at work?”

“Things are going well, I think. We have a routine now and he does really well at the office. I, ah, I talk to him a lot,” Lena admits.

Alex smiles. She scratches the fur between Scout’s shoulder blades and pinches it a few times, gently raising the skin and then releasing it, pleased when he twitches an ear back toward her but otherwise remains engaged with the bone. 

“Talking to him is great. Studies show that pets can help alleviate loneliness and symptoms of depression, they can reduce blood pressure and stress, and provide a sense of safety. To say nothing of the dogs that are trained to alert for medical conditions or ease the symptoms of PTSD.” She grasps a bit of skin and in the small triangle that forms when she pulls up, Alex slides the needle in for a moment, depresses the plunger, then removes the needle. She keeps her hand on the spot, soothing it with a bit of pressure, putting the syringe on top of the exam table, safely out of the way. 

Scout continues to snuffle against the bone, trying to get the peanut butter from every crevice.

“Some dogs will wake their owners when they’re having a nightmare,” Alex continues, noticing Lena’s intent gaze, “or they sense the agitation during a flashback and can work to ground them and help bring them back. There are some dogs that are trained to essentially clear a room or a house before their handler goes in, providing that safety and peace of mind.”

Lena considers the night before, when she’d been startled, how it had been Scout’s peacefulness that had in turn calmed her. 

Ordinarily, she might have had a glass of wine to try to relax but would have been unable to concentrate on her book for the rest of the night, and she’d have called it an early evening, retiring to bed after double-checking the locks on the front and balcony door. She probably wouldn’t have slept well and she’d have woken early in the morning, rushing through a shower and retreating to the office, ignoring breakfast.

But Scout… with Scout, she was able to finish the chapter in her book and though she still checked the locks, the warm presence of the dog at her side meant she slept through the night, woke rested, and they both enjoyed a quick breakfast.

_He’s given me so much, and he doesn’t even know._

Alex wonders what part of what she’s saying is resonating with Lena, but something is clearly striking a chord. “You can ask Kara about any of this stuff,” she reminds the woman, gently. “She’s got all the research readily available and she can help you work with Scout if there’s a skill you’d like to teach him.”

 _This isn’t… this isn’t just_ me _finding comfort in_ my _dog._ She chews on her bottom lip for a moment. _If this is what Scout is doing for me, just weeks of us being together, what are other people experiencing? Research studies mean there are others out there known to benefit from their pets… how many more lives could be improved? If they were in a place to care for them, if they had access to support and resources…_

Lena tangles her fingers in Scout harness as she scratches under the fabric. He’s finished the bone, licked it clean, and he leans into the attention when she pats him. 

“Thank you.”

Alex nods, offers Scout a small dog biscuit when Lena approves, and rubs behind his ears. “Good job today, Scout. Thank you for being such a good patient.”

*****

Lunch is a pizza place with outdoor seating. Kara has already grabbed a table by the time David drops them off and Lena enjoys the opportunity to observe her girlfriend as she and Scout make their approach. 

The blonde has her hair up in a bun, which Lena thinks means she was probably dealing with puppies, the long-sleeved button up that is familiar to Lena now, at least during the week; this one is forest green. She’s wearing stone-washed jeans and she’s kicked her feet back underneath the chair she’s sitting on, crossing her ankles, one knee bouncing slightly as she considers the menu. 

“Is this seat taken?” Lena asks, and her smile grows when Kara lights up at the sound of her voice. 

“Saving it just for you, actually.” Kara pushes the opposite chair back with her foot. “How was the vet trip today?”

“Alex wants him to gain a little more weight.” Lena pulls Scout’s towel, as she’s come to think of it, from the large bag she’d packed for their day, and spreads it out under the table. Scout nudges Kara’s hand for pettings and once he’s thoroughly licked her arm, he settles on the towel and grabs the marrow bone with his paws. It’s the same peanut-butter-and-bacon bone he’d started the day before and he seems eager to be back at it. “But he did really well, didn’t even flinch when he got his shot.”

Kara grins. “He’s such a good boy.” She taps her index finger against the menu. “I already ordered our drinks but I didn’t know what pizza you wanted.”

“You choose, darling. I had a light breakfast knowing we’d be eating here today.”

Blue eyes shine. “Meat-apocalypse?” she asks hopefully.

“Sure.”

Kara pumps her fist. “You’re the best.” 

The waiter brings their drinks, a water for Lena and a soda for Kara, and Kara orders the extra-large pizza. 

Kara tells her about the three five-week old puppies that had come into the shelter, along with their mother, and how two of them had attached themselves to her hair, which was when she’d put it up and out of their reach. Kara had her suspicions about the origins of the pups, how their mother had probably belonged to a backyard breeder who decided her usefulness had come to an end and dropped her on the side of the road. It was more unusual for the puppies to be left with her but they were all a little sickly so they probably hadn’t been deemed worth the medical costs. But, she had no proof, just four dogs needing care, so she processed the mother and her puppies and began to reach out to her fosters. 

When the pizza arrives, Kara’s phone buzzes with a text notification. She picks her phone up off the table and breaks into a grin at whatever is on the screen. 

“Oh, gosh.” She gets to her feet and stands beside Lena, unlocking her phone and pulling up a short video. “Look at this, babe.”

It’s Oliver, the little black puppy who’d been surrendered by his owner a few weeks earlier. Lena recalls that he’d been terrified, spending most of his time cowering in his kennel, needing coaxing and lots of chicken to encourage him to even eat from his bowl. 

Kara presses play and the fifteen-second clip begins, showing him toting around a knotted rope that’s almost as big as he is, dragging it along the carpeted floor. He shakes it back and forth before tripping a little and falling on top of it. His tail is a blur as he chews on one of the knots and seems to grin at the camera, before he suddenly shoves himself forward, the camera tilting strangely for a moment before showing a hand reaching out to scratch his neck. Oliver wriggles and licks the fingers, and the video ends.

“I can’t believe that’s the same dog that would barely come close enough to eat a piece of hot dog from my hand.”

“I know,” Kara squeals, “he’s doing so great. Oh, here’s another video his foster sent. His first tail wag!” Kara swipes through to the clip. “Ursula has a fantastic bombproof Husky who is amazing at -”

“Bombproof?” Lena interrupts, raising an eyebrow at the term.

“Oh, not, you know, _literally_ bombproof,” she winks. “It’s a dog who isn’t startled by new things, who is calm around all sorts of people and in all kinds of situations. A couple of our volunteers have dogs that are really great at helping scared fosters settle in, they give them someone to look up to, basically. Oliver started coming out of his shell after just a few days with Ursula and Exy, learning about play and how to interact with humans, learning that people are safe.”

“Exy?”

“Excelsior,” she elaborates. “It’s a grand name but he deserves it.”

The video is even shorter, only eight seconds, but Lena can tell it must be from perhaps a week or so earlier. Oliver is on screen, along with a large grey and black Husky. The Husky is offering a play bow and then when the video starts, he dashes away and gives another bow, enticing Oliver to play. The pup stands and watches him, but his ears are perked up and slowly, slowly, his tail begins to wag. The video cuts out before Oliver makes any intimation at play, but he’s beginning to show an interest.

Lena’s heart breaks to think of what Oliver must have experienced in his young life, to be so afraid of fun, of expressing excitement. She glances at Kara, who’s happily replaying the new clip she was sent, laughing to herself as Oliver gets tangled up with his toy but keeps right on playing, and Lena knows the intense effort that went into getting Oliver safe, getting him to a place where the pup could settle in and find himself. 

_Someday Oliver is going to have a safe, loving home of his own… he’ll be healthy and happy from now on and he’ll have a chance to bring someone else happiness, in turn._

Lena shakes her head, a little in awe of the woman beside her. “I’m so glad Oliver is doing well.”

Kara practically bounces the two steps back to her seat. “He just needed some one-on-one with a quiet home environment and a steady adult dog he can learn from.” She slides two pieces of pizza onto her plate. “You had that big conference yesterday, right? How’d that go?”

She gives her the highlights, though Kara presses for details and seems, as always, legitimately interested in hearing more. Her excitement mirrors Lena’s when Lena tells her about the design proposal that had been in her email the day before. “I can’t give you more than that yet, but it’s very promising.”

Kara waves her hand, swallowing her bite of pizza before replying, “I don’t need proprietary details. It sounds really good, though. I can’t wait until it’s finalized and you can get it out in the press.”

Lena takes a sip of her water, then pours a little into a collapsible silicone bowl she brought for Scout. He laps it up quickly so she fills it again, and he takes another long drink before resting his head on her foot. She chuckles. “I’m not wearing high-heels and nylons today, buddy, no slobber in my shoe this time.” He snorts, spraying a mist of water and drool against her sock, and she rolls her eyes. “Okay, you win.” She pats his hip and he stretches and then settles on his side.

When Lena sits upright again to put her glass back on the table, Kara is giving her a _look_ she can’t quite describe. She clears her throat. “I wanted to ask you about something.”

Kara blinks. “Sure. Anything.”

“I’d like to donate to the shelter.”

“You don’t have to do that, Lena.”

“I want to… if you’re okay with that. Just… something to give back, a little.”

It’s only been three days since a storm passed through that uprooted a tree and brought it down on the fence of one of the shelter’s largest enclosures, and Winn has been promoting the “fix our fence” fundraiser pretty heavily on social media, so Kara thinks this might be Lena’s way of asking permission to pay the $3,000 estimate. “I’m not going to say no,” she smiles.

“Good!” Lena returns her smile. “I’ll look into it this afternoon.”

Kara beams and reaches across the table to squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”

That _look_ is back again and Lena realizes she’s seen it before - more than once - but the first time was when Kara said ‘I love you’. She’s said it three times since, but Lena suspects she’s restraining herself from speaking the words much more often, not wanting Lena to feel as though she’s being guilted into saying it back, but now that she puts the pieces together, the look says plenty. 

_It’s a wonder the press haven’t picked up on it yet,_ Lena muses. Then, she remembers, they _have._ There have been four articles so far, all in basic celebrity gossip columns, but the paparazzi has put two and two together and come up with gal pals. Lena Luthor got a new puppy, and she’s been seen hanging around with a dog trainer, therefore, Kara Danvers can only be a friend. 

Their mental acrobatics are more than a little astonishing, especially when the most recent piece reported that Lena arrived at Kara’s apartment near eight p.m. “to train her new puppy Scout” but didn’t depart until the following morning, and at the end of said article, the authors speculated about the Luthor’s lack of a dating life.

She’s beginning to think it might take a purposeful article outing them as a couple for the journalists to get a clue and wonders if Kara would be okay with that. Something they could do on their own terms, perhaps through her connections and friends at Catco… 

Kara’s phone rings, startling all three of them, Scout grunting awake, and Lena knows from Kara’s expression that it’s an emergency. A Supergirl emergency, judging by the way her eyes narrow as she takes in the information. 

“I -”

“Go. Be safe,” Lena says, and Kara spares only a moment to nod and then she’s pushing her chair back and hurrying to an area secluded enough for her to change into her suit.

Lena asks for the check and a box to take the remaining slices of pizza back to her apartment. She’s had her single piece and she’ll be good for a while, but she knows Kara will likely come by for dinner over the weekend and will gladly finish the rest of them.

They head home and she spends the rest of the afternoon on a variety of phone calls with her accountants and tax advisers, instructing them on what she wants to do regarding her donation to the shelter, ensuring they loop in the shelter’s attorney and tax preparers as well. The process will take a few days to go through, but it’s started, and Lena decides her Friday was productive, after all. 

*****

Wednesday morning, Lena is shuffling through a stack of papers when her phone buzzes. She glances at the caller ID, surprised to see Kara calling instead of texting, and picks it up on the second ring.

“Hello, darling.”

She hears Winn first, in the background, apparently flabbergasted, “I can’t believe you _knew_ about this!”

Kara says, “Hush, Winn,” and then shifts the phone to address Lena. “Hi, um, so -”

“ _Ask her!_ ”

“I’m _trying_ if you’d be quiet for a minute!”

Lena chuckles. “What’s going on over there?”

“Well, I’m sitting on the floor because I fell out of my chair, Alex almost had to give Winn the Heimlich after he nearly choked on a doughnut again -”

“I had a good reason this time!”

“- and Alex is glaring at me to hurry up which, give me a second, Alex, seriously.”

The paperwork is forgotten as Lena imagines the scene. “And what’s causing all this turmoil?”

“Well, uh, you, actually. I think… Lena, I think you made a mistake.”

“About what?” she asks, unable to determine what she could have done that would bring about all this confusion. 

“So, Winn just got a phone call from our attorney.” Kara clears her throat. “We, um, you made a new account? Rao, do you know how much money they put to come to us every month?”

“What are the amounts?” Lena grabs a pen, prepared to take notes and raise hell for any errors.

“Winn said five thousand a month. And, uh, like twenty thousand a year if we needed, for an emergency?”

She pauses. “That’s correct.”

“There’s over a _million dollars_ in the account?!” Kara whispers the words, as though saying them at full volume will cause the money to vanish. 

“Well, yes. The interest will help in the event you need to make an emergency withdrawal, but I’ve also scheduled an annual deposit to help offset the monthly donations.” Lena frowns. “It’s a perpetuity. Your attorney should have gone over all of this with you.”

“Yeah, but… I thought maybe some of it was lost in translation when Winn was choking, but, Lena, I… Rao, this can’t be happening.”

Lena bites her lip. “I’m sorry, Kara, I thought… when I asked at lunch last week, I thought you were okay with this.”

“I thought you might complete our fundraiser for the new fence,” Kara admits, “I didn’t think you’d… do all this. This… won’t it be weird that L-Corp funds are going to an animal shelter?”

“No, this has nothing to do with L-Corp. This money is entirely my own. L-Corp has a variety of charitable foundations that receive funds every year but this one is from me.” Lena taps her pen on her desk. “It’s… if it makes you uncomfortable, I can adjust it. But I… honestly, Kara, I’d really like to do this.” She looks down at the puppy napping at her feet and forges on. “Scout means so much to me, I thought, I wanted to give something back, for all that you do helping the animals and helping people find Scouts of their own.”

Kara swallows. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“I… okay.” She blows out a long breath. “Thank you so much, I can’t… Lena, this is amazing.”

“You’re very welcome. I’ll know you’ll use it well and the animals will benefit.”

“I promise. You’ll get a copy of our annual financial report, I’ll make sure of it.”

Lena chuckles. “I think our attorneys will see to that, but I appreciate it.” She pauses for a moment when the door to her office opens and she nods to Jess that she’s aware of the time. “I’m sorry, I have a meeting in a few minutes. I’ll call you later tonight?”

“Please. Have a good day.”

Before Kara ends the call, Lena can hear Alex’s “Well?!”, Kara’s reply of “She was serious”, and Winn’s loud cheer.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get something small posted, as I work on the Thanksgiving/Medusa piece, which will be much longer. This fic was written from 4 - 15 November 2017. The title is from Sappho's poetry.
> 
> Thanks to each and every one of you, as always, for coming along on this ride. Catch me on tumblr at y02mustang (or y02mustang-the-bard).
> 
> Also, quick programming note for you subscribers out there: I'll be throwing some of my old Kigo fics up on AO3, so you'll probably see a bunch of notifications this weekend. Sorry if Kigo's not your thing, we'll be back to our more regularly-scheduled Supercorp fics soon!


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